Justice League: Caged
by OnlyYouAndMe96
Summary: "But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage, can seldom see through his bars of rage, his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing." - Maya Angelou


**AN: Huge shoutout to enter your desired username, The Sulkier Clown, and all the wonderful people from BMWW forums for their help and support! I couldn't have done it without everyone!**

 **I would greatly appreciate any reviews, recommendations, criticisms, suggestions etc. Thanks in advance for taking the time to read and review, enjoy!**

 **NOTE: The references to Knights of the Old Republic are merely references, this story is in no way related to KoTOR**

 **Prologue: A Dire Situation**

 **10 Years Ago…**

"Jessica! Isabel! I'm home!"

He bellowed cheerfully while juggling his keys, a large gift-wrapped box, and his suitcase. As he took off his shoes, he thought for the umpteenth time that he must be the proudest husband and father alive, and that thought once again brought a giant grin to his face. His daughter was turning five years old! All day, he couldn't stop bragging about his family to his friends at work about his sweet little angel. To think just five years ago, he was pacing anxiously outside a hospital room sweating and worried about his wife and their baby! He sat the enormous box down on the kitchen counter and shouted,

"Jessica? Isabel?"

When he didn't hear a sound except for his voice echoing through the house, he grew concerned. Something wasn't right, his wife and daughter were almost always home at this time and if they weren't, they always let him know beforehand, he never came home to an empty house not knowing where his wife and daughter were. Walking through his large but empty home, an uncomfortable shiver went up his spine, his house had never felt this lifeless before. Although nothing was out of place and everything was immaculately neat and clean as always, it just didn't feel right, it lacked the warming presence of his loving family.

As he ran up the stairs, he heard the wind whistling, drawing attention to his bedroom door. He felt his heart sinking into his stomach as he stared at the broken and battered door. Without a second thought, he stormed into his bedroom shouting furiously,

"Jessica! Isabel!"

He broke down what remains of his bedroom door, sending splinters of wood in all directors. As he opened his eyes, his mind went blank and he stopped breathing, it was as if time stood still. The pain was unbearable, it was as if his chest was clenched in a giant fist and his heart was pierced with a thousand needles. The sight was beyond his worst nightmares, it was the most horrific sight that his eyes has ever met. _This can't be real!_ An average adult body contains 4.7 to 5.5 liters of blood, as a hematologist he knew that better anyone else, but he never imagined that he would see blood splattered all over the carpet, walls and ceiling of his bedroom like some twisted post-modernist painting. _It can't be them, it just can't!_ _Not my angels!_

Horrified by the sight, he stumbled backwards and fell, landing on his side. He realized he was horribly mistaken. His blood soaked and destroyed bedroom isn't the most horrible sight he has ever seen. What he saw was a human hand, a hand that he knew almost better than his own, a hand that was still adorned with a beautiful sapphire ring, a ring that matched the one on his own hand. A terrible rage joined his unbearable grief and pain. _Why?!_ His mind was overloaded with emotion and thought, it was as if the universe shook violently. As his nervous system began to shut down in order to protect itself, darkness filled his vision and he couldn't feel anything anymore, not even pain and suffering.

 **Present Day, Gotham City**

One mile from the docks, an area known for unsavory nighttime activities, stood an abandoned warehouse. Torn apart by a recent battle, it was a miracle that the warehouse has not collapsed. The moonlight shone through a rather large opening in the ceiling, highlighting a demonic, statue-like figure that stood in the middle of a group of corpses. Surprisingly enough, the demon was not the cause of death of those lifeless cadavers. Despite his menacing presence and rather violent modus operandi, murder was the one line the dark knight of Gotham vowed to never cross.

The dead were the newest casualties of a bloody war that has plagued Gotham for the past month. The dark knight knelt down and carefully cut open the shirt of a dead drug dealer, revealing six bullet wounds and the gash that ended the dead man's life. Batman traced his fingers along with gash, confirming his suspicions. The deep gash was caused by a clean and powerful slash, curtesy of a trained practitioner of an extremely well-honed blade, no doubt a katana strike by a yakuza enforcer.

He then turned his focus towards the bullet wounds, he stuck his fingers inside the wound for a closer examination then narrowed his eyes. Judging by the entry point, the internal damage, debris, and exit wound in the cadaver's back, it was no doubt the handiwork of a 60 caliber hollow point. The distribution and penetration depth of the wounds clearly indicates that the weapon of choice was a powerful assault rifle, which confirmed the rumors that the Yamaguichi-gumi has managed to procure a batch of the newly developed TK-421 assault rifles.

This entire incident was one of the many symptoms of a highly unusual and extremely dangerous sequence of events in Gotham city. Despite the best efforts of the world's greatest detective, the true motive behind the Yamaguichi's violent and unusual expansion into Gotham has yet to be revealed. A month ago, the Yamaguichi-gumi, Japan's largest yakuza clan, began to wreak havoc in the Gotham underworld, triggering a brutal gang war that quickly overwhelmed Gotham PD.

The war had already claimed the lives of countless innocents and created orphans every single day. That thought alone enraged Batman and made him even more determined to dismantle the yakuza. In order to put an end to this war and unravel the mystery behind it, Batman took an indefinite leave of absence from the Justice League and had spent the past month entirely focused on fighting the warring underworld.

In addition to his rage, Batman also felt uncomfortable with the abruptness and mysterious of recent events. Such degree of chaos, destruction and visibility was highly unusual for the yakuza, especially for a clan that had recently undergone a change in leadership, and it was illogical for the yakuza to devote such a large portion of their resources to a war that at best would yield a pyrrhic victory on foreign soil.

Batman then turned his attention to a yakuza corpse a few meters away. Judging from the tattoos across his chest, the dead man was a low ranking initiate. From the distribution and state of the corpses, it was clear that the raid was premeditated by the yakuza to lure local drug dealers into a trap in order to eliminate their competition. A violent but efficient massacre designed to leave no survivors.

While carefully gathering evidence for further analysis, Batman's mind was at work contemplating the question that plagued the world's greatest detective for the past month. Why? Why Gotham, an American city with a saturated market for crime and narcotics? Why now? Why deviate from their modus operandi? As he swabbed a sample of blood, Batman's league communicator beeped sharply, a pitch that indicated that it was an absolute emergency. Despite his annoyance at the distraction, he would never abandon the league in an emergency.

"Batman, we have a problem, we need you on the Watchtower ASAP," John said, "its Diana, we've lost contact with her and Shayera a few hours ago, and they've gone completely dark."

A chill went down Batman's spine. Through a secret backchannel he installed in the Watchtower's computer systems, he knew that Diana had recently completed an intergalactic mission with Hawkgirl and that they were due to be back in a week.

"You should have contacted me sooner. Beam me up to the Watchtower right away."

Although there's still work to be done, Diana's life was in danger, and losing Diana was not an option. When Diana's life is at stake, there was no decision to be made.

 **Watchtower**

Batman materialized on the transporter pad and immediately stormed off towards the monitor room, cape bellowing behind him. His menacing demeanor silenced the Watchtower, his patented Batglare, set jaw and rapid strides warned even the most oblivious to shut up and give him a wide berth. The only sounds to be heard throughout the Watchtower were the quiet hum of life support systems and Batman's loud footsteps echoing through the corridors. Batman opened the monitor room door, revealing John who sat in the chair arms crossed, staring at the monitors while Wally paced furiously behind him.

"Tell me everything," Batman ordered. He already deduced the gist of the situation, but he needed details to formulate a plan.

John turned towards Batman and explained, "Three weeks ago, Diana and Shayera were sent on an intergalactic mission to act as mediators for the warring Rakatan clans in the Maw cluster. Having completed their mission two days ago, they were on their way back to the Watchtower. Three hours ago, we lost contact with their ship near the Korriban in the Horuset system. We've tried-"

"Everything, and nothing worked," Batman interrupted while trying to re-establish contact with Diana's Javelin. "That is because there is nothing you can do from the Watchtower. We need to go look for them immediately, either their communications has been knocked out or their ship crashed." Although he refused the acknowledge it, there was a third explanation; her ship might have been destroyed.

"Are you sure?" Wally asked, his unease clear in his voice. "Are you sure that it isn't a glitch-"

"I'm never wrong," Batman interrupted again, although deep down, he wished he was somehow wrong just this once. They needed to send a search and rescue team to go after Diana and Hawkgirl immediately. Sending Clark and J'onn wasn't an option, they were on another intergalactic mission, they won't make it in time. Maybe he could send John and Wally? Surely the two founders could manage a rescue mission. He was on the verge of a breakthrough and Gotham needed him now more than ever, maybe he should let the others take care of this. On the other hand, if anything were to happen to Diana, he would never be able to forgive himself. Her death will haunt him for as long as he live and the afterlife, if there was one. He trusted John and Wally with his life, but not Diana's.

As much as he hated having to make this decision, he had to leave Gotham in the hands of his protégés for the time being. Diana's life is on the line and she needed him right now.

"John and I will head towards their last known location immediately," Batman ordered, storming out of the monitor room without waiting for John or Wally's acknowledgement.


End file.
